Man caught giving middle finger to Jeff Ashton during Casey Anthony trial

 

" src="http://www.cfnews13.com/static/articles/images/news2011/matthew-bartlett-1-0630.jpg" alt="matthew bartlett, jeff ashton" /> Matthew Bartlett is taken away by sheriff deputies on a contempt charge for his obscene gesture toward assistant state attorney Jeff Ashton during the Casey Anthony trial at the Orange County Courthouse in Orlando, Fla. on Thursday, June 30, 2011.

ORLANDO -- 

Flipping the bird in court during the Casey Anthony trial has netted a young man six days in the Orange County Jail.

Judge Belvin Perry told Matthew Bartlett he was caught on camera extending his middle finger in the middle of Day 32 of the murder trial.

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Bartlett, 28, identified himself in a picture of him with his middle finger in the air.

When the judge asked why he did it, Bartlett told him it was directed at "Mr. Ashton," referring to prosecutor Jeff Ashton.

Bartlett confirmed that he did read the sign posted outside the door of Courtroom 23, prohibiting any gestures or facial expressions inside. He also said he heard deputies give everyone in the gallery the same warning verbally.

"Can you read and write?" Judge Perry asked Bartlett.

The young man said he could not explain why he did what he did, apologizing for his actions and his "very stupid" decision.

The judge asked Bartlett where he worked, and how much money he had. He said he was a server at TGI Friday's at the Mall at Millenia, and had less than $300 in his bank accounts.

Perry made sure to remind Bartlett that Florida taxpayers were spending a lot of money on this trial, and his actions have put everything that has happened thus far at risk. The defense just rested Thursday afternoon.

Bartlett was found guilty of direct criminal contempt, and Judge Perry sentenced him to six days in jail, plus a fine of $400, not including court costs.

Thursday was the second day in a row that someone was brought before the judge for contempt of court. On Wednesday, court deputies said they caught Mark Schmidter handing out pamphlets outside the courtroom.

The pamphlets allegedly had nothing specifically to do with the Casey Anthony trial, but because Schmidter was distributing them near the jury room, he was jailed on a $2,500 bond.

The man was a fool to mess with authority in such a formal judicial process. He deserves the sentence because he he did it in court. If he had down it in a public area than the sentence would be outrageous.

Waste of jail space. I would rather they charge community work hours where you actually get something out of it rather than draining away the tax money.

The judged drilled him! I think I would of broke down

This should not be illegal.

So he saw the sign at the door, and heard the verbal statement, yet he was still ignorant enough to act out in court.

It's tough to judge people on an incident like this, he may be a good guy, but he really dropped the ball right here. I think it is just, however, I think community service would have been a more suitable punishment. Or better yet, jail time with concurrent community service.

i feel like punching that judge in the face, what a dick. Everything he said was just to make the dude look dumb. Like fuck, just give him the sentence and get it over with,.

Way to far just to prove a point, He was sorry and he made a silly mistake, No one got hurt. 6 days cominuty service just to make an example would have been more than enough

Well, in itself it's not a fair judgement but the point of the whole thing is to prevent further actions like this in the future.

Agree with you, he knew the consequences of his actions, so he deserved it. Everybody knows you have to stick to the rules in the courtroom. However, in public space this sentence would be way exaggerated.